Afghan woman official seeks asylum in Finland

Moscow, Feb 8 (IANS/RIA Novosti) An Afghan provincial official for women's affairs has applied for political asylum in Finland after visiting the country.

Fariba Majid, women's affairs director in the northern province of Balkh, went to Finland for a training course about a month ago but then disappeared, the provincial governor's spokesman said.

It later emerged that she had asked Finland for asylum on the grounds that threats had been made to her life in Afghanistan, a claim that was dismissed by the spokesman.

"No one in government service is experiencing security problems," the spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Zabiullah Mojahed, press spokesman for the Taliban, which has previously been responsible for attacks on women political figures in the country, claims many people hoping to leave war-torn Afghanistan are concocting stories of threats by the Taliban in order to convince foreign states to grant them asylum.